Read this post from the Teaching with the Library blog and spread the word about this opportunity for up to five organizations established within the past five years that show promise in supporting literacy!
Quite a collection for listeners in several languages from:
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English/Language Arts Library Special Education Pre K - 2 3 - 5 6 - 8 9 - 12 13+ Audible books literature online
Before reading this article, I had no idea that early penmanship was code for social status. I was hooked by the first two paragraphs:
Imagine a world in which the font you use is chosen for you, based entirely on your demographic affiliations. All doctors write in Garamond, while designers are mandated Futura Bold. Middle-aged men get Arial; women, Helvetica. Goofy aunts must use Comic Sans.
Seem strange? A few centuries ago, that was just how things worked. In colonial America, "the very style in which one formed letters was determined by one’s place in society," writes historian Tamara Thornton in Handwriting in America: A Cultural History. Thanks to the rigorous teachings of professionals called “penmen,” merchants wrote strong, loopy logbooks, women’s words were intricate and shaded, and upper-class men did whatever they felt like. So different were the results, says Thornton, that “a fully literate stranger could evaluate the social significance of a letter… simply by noting what hand it had been written in.”
Today, we worry that our students cannot read cursive of any kind. Maybe it should be taught as part of history classes. It is, after all, an important part of historical literacy.
Where have all the penmen gone?
The Mayflower Compact 1620
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/99471902/
3 - 5 6 - 8 9 - 12 English/Language Arts Social Studies/History penmanship handwriting cursive
The link below is a write-up for the recent workshop in collaboration with the Colorado Council for International Reading Association.
The article includes links to all of the primary sources, strategies, and task cards.
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